‘Texas RV Professor’ to Lead Online Tech Classes

Workamper News and Workamper University have partnered with Terry Cooper, the “Texas RV Professor,” and his Mobile RV Academy to provide two online courses for people interested in learning more about RVs. The courses will be entirely online using a web seminar system where attendees will be able to interact with the instructor, Cooper. The two courses begin this month.

According to a news release, the first course, titled “Your RV Electrical Systems,” will begin on July 14. Each course has three sections available to participants; each section is made up of four sessions totaling six hours of class time.The second course offered is “Becoming a Certified RV Walk Through Technician.” To participate in either or both of these classes people will need to register and submit their payment through the Workamper News Store online. There are three different packages available starting at $247 per course. Visit http://www.workamper.com/rvprofessor to find all the details about the course fees.

Cooper will present the course using PowerPoint presentations and video. Homework assignments and pre- and post-course assessments will be provided along with downloadable handouts and video link materials.

The “RV Electrical Systems” course is designed for the individual that wants to not only save money, but develop new skills that can be used while Workamping. Some of the topics covered will be electricity, DC voltage, AC voltage and electrical capstone materials. In the “Becoming a Certified RV Walk Through Technician” course, students will receive a certificate upon successful completion.

A Master Certified RV Technician and licensed insurance claims adjuster, he has developed, from concept to implementation, a training program that takes an inexperienced person and in one year, trains them to be a certified RV technician working in the RV industry. This all happens with the Mobile RV Academy.

You will have to excuse me for wondering if what RVers need is another distant training program. The failure of the RV industy to endorse and offer genuine technician training seems to me to be self-evident in a world where the only real criteria for laying claim to certification, in some cases, is paying tuition and completing the program.

I think those of us who have been at this a while and have participated in the few post-certification classes that are availble interface on a somewhat regular basis with “certified technicians” who “talk the talk, but can’t walk the walk”. I would suggest the place for distant learning is after a person has completed the basics.

Until the industry offers seminars that move beyond “Troubleshooters” (which I would be more than happy to pay for) and establishes a genuine career pathway, we are going to continue a process that has little to offer in the way of advancement or even applicable skills. Remember, for a lot of folks, all being experienced means is repeating the same mistakes!